http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/news/celebrity/mmx-0517salemay17,1,3621815.story

Yes. A Google search would have told you that in five seconds, though.

Theno

According to The Making of Superman: The Movie by David Michael Petrou(a good read for fans of the film-check your local used bookstore or eBay), Alexander Salkind wanted a famous actor in the title role. He actually wanted Robert Redford as Superman. Redford turned Salkind down, as did his second choice, Paul Newman. After casting Marlon Brando and Gege Hackman, just about every actor in town from Steve McQueen to Clint Eastwood was considered. After many days of fruitless searching, Christopher Reeve was called and the rest is history.

I read somewhere that James Caan was lined up to play him at one point

Then I found out he was kind of a dumb villain. My poor childhood dreams...

Why is it that J.M. DeMatties (who was the writer who came up with the whole convoluted “Tribunal/Time Agents/Elf” thing) seems to have a track record of being the last writer on about a billion comic titles (from several companies) when the title gets the AX.

I can think of quite a few (past and recent) instances, including that particular run of The Defenders.

Knowing how spiritual the man and his writing can be, could he be a (not-so) Grim reaper, helping to usher those soon-to-be-departed comic titles across to the "other side"?

Seems like something Mulder, Scully and Cronin should look into.

ThanX!

~P~
P-TOR

Hardly. With superhero features, the writer has one helluva suspension of disbelief to accomplish going in. Being reasonably consistent with what his predecessors have done (not necessarily slavishly faithful to the smallest details, mind you) is a very good step in that direction. When he 100% contradicts something that the previous writer on the series wrote just a few months earlier, he makes it quite hard. Worse, many of those writers who ignored earlier stories complain loudly when THEIR work is subsequently disregarded. Their attitude is, to borrow from Benjamin Franklin, "Continuity is always sacrosanct in the first person, such as 'MY continuity.' It is only in the third person, 'THEIR continuity,' that it becomes bullshit." To say that ignoring the earlier works should be mandatory is absurd.

His name startes with a 'J'.

Grant Morrison doesn't disregard continuity, it makes it work for him instead of being a slave to it. Oh yeah, and he can write a good story too.

The comment by Tom DeFalco struck me as somewhat ironic as well. Really, more than one idea?

While I do regret that I never got my story published, it has been fun to watch what the idea has become over the years. Venom! Who would have thought?

As the movie premiered this week I sent Tom Defalco and email to see if he remembered me. No response. That's kind of sad - I don't want any money from Marvel but I would LOVE some kind of acknowledgment that the idea came from me. They're probably afraid I'll sue or something.

But at least the fans at CBR know the REAL secret origin of Spidey's black costume!

PS If anyone is interested, I've got copies of the original letters as proof.